Cats with loose diarrhoea

Author: VioVet

Published: Sunday 20th January 2013

Our customers asked:

I would be grateful for your help and advice as one of my cats has very
loose motions, which does make rather mess of the litter tray all 3 use. A
friend has told me that there is a powder available to sprinkle on his food
to aid this problem.

He has recently had his annual health check and all is fine so I don't think
this is anything serious, just a bit inconvenient.

Our response:

There are lots of reasons why your cat's motions might tend to be loose, and so lots of possible treatments. The best treatment depends on the precise underlying cause.

The first thing to do would be to look at possible dietary causes. If you have multiple cats it can be difficult to change their feeding, but sometimes a change in diet will help. Depending on what you currently feed, I would suggest ideally trying one of the following diets for at least 4 weeks, ideally 8 weeks. Hills feline z/d, Purina HA cat food or Royal Canin hypoallergenic cat food. If that stops the loose motions, then it means that some constituent of the previous diet was the probable cause. YOu can then remain on one of these diets, or gradually add new foods, avoiding the previous ones, and see how things go. Many cats develop an intolerance to some foods, so produce loose motions when on them. Where this is the case, it makes more sense to change the food than trying to treat the symptom (loose motions).

Failing that, one of the probiotic supplements might help. Entrodex can be added to moist food, or drinking water. Protexin Enterogenic sachets are particularly good for this and lots of people do rate them highly, but they are more expensive.

Otherwise I would get your vet to check the cat if the looseness persists, or there is any weight loss, vomiting, or loss of appetite.